: The Madras High Court has directed the Chennai Police Commissioner to appear before it on March 20, for failing to comply with its directive on submission of status report on pending serious criminal cases.

This is the second instance where the Court has ordered the appearance of Commissioner of Police, S George.

He has already been directed to appear in another matter involving a contempt petition on March 22.

The Court had days ago flayed the attitude of officers in not complying with judicial orders while summoning George.

In his directive, Justice S Vaidyanathan on August 22 last had directed George to submit a status report in the court on cases pending before the Central Crime Branch (CCB) up to 2011.

The Judge also directed expeditious investigation and filing of charge sheets in two months and asked the court registry to send a communication to all police stations through the Police Commissioner in this regard.

It further clarified that the Commissioner shall ensure that the cases are categorised under separate heads to enable the High Court to ascertain whether there was any nexus between the accused and the police in the cases.

Further, the order stated that if the report was not filed, the Commissioner will have to appear before the Court to give an explanation verbally and in writing thereafter.

However, till date the report has not been submitted and police commissioner has been directed to appear in this connection.

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